Untitled (Help me come up with a title)
by Queen Hotaru
Summary: A shooting/kidnaping at a high school leaves Grissom in a bad position when his adopted daughter is the missing student. How will the CSIs handle the case? **STORY TOTALLY REDONE! I took out the part about Lindsay's kidnaping, ** CHAPTER 7 UPLOADED!!!!!**
1. Prologue

Untitled

Prologue

by Queen Hotaru

  
  


Disclaimer: I don't own the CSI characters, it's as simple as that.

  
  


Authors Notes: I didn't know if Grissom had family in the show, but I gave him an adopted daughter (which is the norm for me, go figure). That's all.

~~~~~~~~~~

  
  


She jolted up in bed and looked at the clock on her nightstand, it was 2:43 in the morning. This hadn't been the first time she had been woken up in this fashion, she had had these rude self awakenings many times.

  
  


The girl of 15 years picked up the telephone that stood next to the clock on her nightstand and dialed a number which she knew by heart. After 5 rings someone picked up the receiver on the other end of the line.

  
  


"Hello?" came a groggy voice.

  
  


"Sidney, it's me. I had another dream. I'm afraid that there's gonna be a shooting at school tomorrow," the girl said.

  
  


"Tara, it's 2:45 in the morning, get some sleep and call me later, ok?" the other girl - Sidney - said.

  
  


"Sid, I'm serious."

  
  


"So am I Tara," Sidney said, in a 'I'm-half-asleep' sort of voice. "You're probably just worried about your dad or stressed out about mid-terms. Calm down and get some rest. See ya at school tomorrow, Tara."

  
  


"...Yea, uh... g'night Sidney...and don't forget you have a chemistry test tomorrow."

  
  


With that Tara put down the receiver of her phone.

  
  


'Maybe Sid's right; I mean, Dad was out working late tonight following that lead Greg was telling me about earlier when I stopped by the crime lab. Yea, that must be it.'

  
  


With thought in mind, 15-year-old Tara Grissom lay back down and went back to sleep.


	2. Chapter 1

Untitled

Chapter 1

by Queen Hotaru

  
  


Disclaimer: Don't own the CSI characters, so don't sue me.

  
  


Authors Notes: Ok, here's how it goes,. I've redone the ENTIRE STORY. I took out the kidnaping of Lindsay and added some things.

~~~~~~~~~

  
  


Someone knocked on Tara's door. When there was no reply, the knocker opened the door to see his 15-year-old adopted daughter still asleep.

  
  


Slowly, Gil Grissom, head of Vegas' CSI unit, walked in and started to slowly shake her shoulder.

  
  


"Tara. Tara, come on, get up. We both have busy days today."

  
  


Tara stirred and opened her eyes.

  
  


"Morning Dad. How'd the shift go last night?"

  
  


"Well, we figured out that the guy was killed by injury to the head, caused by a blunt object, the bullets are made for a special gun, so it shouldn't be that hard to track. We had poor Greg up all night doing DNA work."

  
  


"Poor Lab Rat."

  
  


This was the name Tara had given the crime lab's lab tech, Greg Sanders. She had given him the name because he almost never left the lab. Lab Rat indeed.

  
  


"Come on, you have that advanced placement physics test today," Grissom said and walked out of the room.

  
  


While Tara's best friend Sydney Janson had a chemistry test today, Tara had an advanced placement physics test. A year after she and Grissom had moved to Vegas, four-year-old Tara had been hanging around the crime lab with her dad and the other CSIs. Cactus Blossom High School (or Cactus Blossom High or CBH as it was called), the school Tara attended, had offered to have Tara skipped up a grade or two or even three, but Grissom had declined the offer. Despite this, Tara's teachers gave her higher level work anyway.

  
  


Tara was actually the daughter of Grissom's sister, Lucy, and brother-in-law, Matt. Tara's parents had died in a car crash when Tara was 2. Grissom, being Tara's guardian, had adopted her and had raised her.

  
  


Tara didn't remember much about her actual parents. She called Grissom 'dad' for as far back as she could remember (which was about from age 2 ½ onward), because, for all intensive purposes, he was.

  
  


-20 minutes later-

  
  


Tara and Grissom sat at the table in the kitchen eating some breakfast. Suddenly the radio (which was turned on) reported that Sam Hurol had escaped from prison. This didn't phase Grissom, even though Hurol had been one of the many people he had taken part in putting away, it didn't worry him. The criminals that were put away by the crime lab's staff weren't aware of where any of them lived, so they were safe.

  
  


Tara couldn't help but wonder how Hurol could have escaped from prison. And not just any section of the prison at that, but death row. Hurol, now age 37, had been on death row, awaiting execution, for three years.

  
  


Hurol was a professional killer. He had carried out the murders of at least 17 victims (there may have been more, but if there were no one knew about them). The last three lives Hurol had taken had been those of his wife, Margo, (at that time, age 33) and their two children, twins: Alex and Janice (both age 12 at the time of their deaths).

  
  


Tara recalled Alex; tall for his age at 4"9', blue eyes and brown hair. He had been her science partner that year. All three of them, Tara, Alex, and Janice, were the same age (12), the same grade, and were in the same classes at Mosabac Middle School.

  
  


That year, the science curriculum was on cells and the basics of the human body. Tara, at that time, was doing the same level work as the other students in her class, which meant making a model of either a plant or animal cell with your partner.

  
  


Tara remembered that day as if it were yesterday. It had been the third Saturday in April and Tara had gone over to Alex's to work on her's and Alex's cell project. They had decided to build a model of a plant cell using Styrofoam, paint, paper, toothpicks, some kidney beans and other things. It was about 10:50 AM when Tara arrived at the house on Penbridge Lane, only four blocks away from her house.

  
  


She hopped off her bicycle and locked it up against a small tree. After this, Tara rang the doorbell.

  
  


After 9 minutes of waiting, there was still no response. Tara remembered what Alex had told her. He and Janice often listened to very loud music, so if he knew that she was coming and she had knocked and waited at the door more than five minutes, she could use the spare key under the doormat.

  
  


Tara retrieved the key. Unlocking the door turned out not to be a problem. As she put the key into the lock the door swung open. This was unusual, Alex's family, to her knowledge (and she came here often enough to work on the project that she should know) never left the door unlocked, even when they were at home. Cautiously, Tara stepped through the door's threshold. The sight that met her eyes shocked her.

  
  


Alex, Janice, and their mom, Margo, were laying on the floor in pools of blood; their bodies were ridged and lifeless.

  
  


Tara immediately called 911 on her cell phone. She didn't think of calling the crime lab directly. Within five minutes, the police arrived. Tara saw Brass step out of a car and she ran over to him, glad to see a familiar face at that moment.

  
  


Several minutes later, Grissom and Warrick arrived. (Catherine had the day off, and Nick and Sara were working on other cases.) Tara remembered she had ran over to her father, crying. She was scared. Looking back, Tara knew that her age at that time had to do with her childish actions, she'd never do that now, but that was then. She recalled that Grissom had asked her what had happened. She had told him what had happened from when she had arrived. She then gave one of the police officers a statement, as her father and Warrick walked inside.

  
  


Shaking her head slightly, Tara forced herself to remember Hurol's trial. Inside the Hurols' home, there had been enough forensic evidence to say that Sam Hurol, himself, had committed the murder. It was suspected that Margo and the twins had figured out that Hurol was a killer and were going to go to the police, so Hurol killed them.

  
  


Both Grissom and Tara attended the trial. Grissom had to testify, and Tara wanted to witness the trial. They had arrived there early, and gotten seats in the second row of the gallery.

  
  


When Grissom testified, Hurol had been present in the courtroom. On the stand, Grissom was questioned about the forensic evidence and had to explain some of it and the processes used to identify a suspect.

  
  


She recalled that, as the court was adjourned for the day, Hurol had turned and glared at her. She knew that Hurol hadn't liked her. From the first time she had accidently stepped foot in his house with the twins, Hurol's body language was always saying 'I don't like you, stay out of my way, or else'.

  
  


Tara shook her head again. Her appetite was now gone, due to the memories that her brain had decided to pull out of its 'memory filing cabinet' just a few minutes before.

  
  


"Ok, I'm done," Tara said, pushing her half-eaten bowl of cold cereal away from her and turning to her father. "Bye Dad, see ya after school, I'm gonna come over to the crime lab and give the Lab Rat a hand."

  
  


"Good luck on your test, Tara," her father called out the door before it was closed and Tara went to catch the bus.

  
  


-after the bus ride-

  
  


Tara got of the bus just outside CBH and started walking inside.

  
  


No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't shake off the feeling that something was going to happen. Something bad. Finally, after much trying, she was able to concentrate on studying for her test.

  
  


-8th period (2 periods after lunch)-

  
  


Tara had just finished the AP physics test and had handed it to Mr. Taylor. She excused herself from the classroom and headed towards the bathroom (taking her schoolbag with her). Just then the students' 20 minute break from class started. All of the students crowded into the hallway. The reason for a 20 minute break, rather than a 10 minute break, was simple, between periods 6 and 7 there was no break, so the students were given an extra 10 minutes after 8th period.

  
  


Suddenly, shots rang out in the hallway. There were screams and people dove for the floor. More screams, a few were dead.

  
  
  
  


Tara had finished in the bathroom and was walking down the hallway when the shots rang out. She ran towards them, not afraid for herself, but for her friends. She saw two people get shot dead, then a third, and many were injured.

  
  


Tara took her backpack and tried to hit the shooter with it. The shooter, instead, spun around behind Tara, knocked her out by hitting her in the head with the butt of the gun, grabbed Tara from behind, grabbed her backpack and left the school.

  
  


-10 minutes later, Las Vegas Crime Lab-

  
  


Catherine walked into Grissom's office, her bag of investigation equipment over her shoulder.

  
  


"Grissom, we've got one," she said.

  
  


The word 'one' referred to a new case/job/thing to investigate.

  
  


"What is it?" Grissom asked, getting his own supplies.

  
  


"A school shooting," she responded.

  
  


"We don't usually take that sort of case, that's for the police to handle."

  
  


"I know, but this is a special case."

  
  


"How so?"

  
  


"It's at Cactus Blossom High School."

  
  


"Lets go."


	3. Chapter 2

Untitled (Help me with a title)

Chapter 2

by Queen Hotaru

  
  


Disclaimer: I don't own the CSI characters, never have, never will, so don't sue me.

  
  


Authors Notes: Hi peoples, I'm back. I just got back from the high school ski trip, and boy am I tired. Although the trip was successful, I no longer have complete writers block on my Sherlock Holmes story 'Daughter of the Detective'. Well, enjoy the story...... OH, and if someone would be kind enough to do me a favor and post in a review the names of the other CSIers and their last names, preferably spelled correctly. Thanks.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

  
  


Grissom and Catherine stepped out of one of the vans the crime lab used/owned and were met with a strange scene. It wasn't total chaos, it wasn't total order, it was something in between. Students standing and sitting in front of the high school, most trying to console each other.

  
  


Grissom and Catherine started walking over to where Detective Brass was speaking to a woman and two men. Grissom recognized the woman. They heard part of the conversation.

  
  


"Detective Brass, you may question the students, but they've been through a lot today," the woman said, "and they may not want to speak about it so soon."

  
  


"Principal Hayburn isn't there something you can do to get them to-" Brass was cut off by the one of the men.

  
  


"Detective Brass," the man, the district lawyer, started. "There is no way we will force the students to speak with you and your associates. You may speak with them, Principal Hayburn, Superintendent Selfer, and I won't interfere. The school will assist this investigation in anyway we can."

  
  


With that the superintendent and the district lawyer walked away, leaving Principal Hayburn standing there with brass

  
  


Cactus Blossom High School's principal, 37-year-old Erin Hayburn, was a kind woman who was quite strict when it came to the safety of her students. She had brown hair and brown eyes that were - at the moment - looking towards the students.

  
  


It was at this point that Catherine and Grissom reached the place where Brass and Principal Hayburn were standing.

  
  


Grissom spoke up.

  
  


"What's going on?"

  
  


Brass and Principal Hayburn turned to look at Grissom and Catherine.

  
  


"Principal Hayburn allow any of the students to be interviewed or questioned but only if the students want to speak with us," Brass said.

  
  


Grissom turned to Principal Hayburn. Being that Grissom was the father of a student at this school and part of the PTA (on occasion, not often), he was on a first name basis with the school's principal.

  
  


"Thank you for your cooperation. Erin," Grissom asked.

  
  


"You're welcome. Let me know if there's anything I can do to help with the investigation." With that, Hayburn nodded her head and walked towards the students.

  
  


Brass, Catherine, and Grissom stayed standing in their places.

  
  


Hayburn kept walking. She wasn't 15 feet away from the threesome when a girl with straight brown hair and blue eyes ran up to her and started to speak at a frantic pace.

  
  


"Ms.HayburnTara'smissingIcan'tfindheranywhere!"

  
  


"Hold on. Hold on. Take a breath Sidney and tell me what's wrong."

  
  


At the name Sidney, Grissom's ears perked up. There was only one student named Sidney that attended CBH and that was Sidney Janson, Tara's best friend. Grissom listened in as Sidney started speaking again.

  
  


"Ms. Hayburn, Tara's missing, I can't find her anywhere."

  
  


"Are you sure, Sidney?" Hayburn asked.

  
  


"Yea. I've looked in all the classrooms, and all over the school grounds. There's no sign of her."

  
  


As Sidney kept talking, Grissom walked over, Brass and Catherine following close behind.

  
  


"How did she know?" Sidney asked herself out loud.

  
  


"Sidney," Grissom said walking up behind his daughter's best friend, "did you say that Tara was missing?"

  
  


"Oh, uh.. Hi Mr. Grissom. Well, I don't know that she's missing, I just can't find her."

  
  


"When was the last time you saw her?" Catherine asked.

  
  


"Um... just before the 20 minute break from class between 8th and 9th periods; we have a 20 minute break because we don't get a break between periods 6 and 7, so we get that break between 8 and 9. Anyway, Tara had finished her Advanced Phys. test and went to the bathroom.... it was just before the shooting happened."

  
  


"Advanced Phys.?" Catherine asked.

  
  


"Advanced physics," Grissom answered.

  
  


"Sidney, this shooter did you see what he or she looked like?" Brass asked.

  
  


"No, I didn't and I don't think anyone else did either; we were ducking for cover," Sidney responded. "How could she possibly have known though?" Sidney asked herself out loud.

  
  


"Known what?" Brass asked.

  
  


"Well, last night at about 2:40 am, I got a call from Tara on my private phone line. When I picked up she sounded really jumpy, which was totally unlike her. She said she thought there was going to be a shooting at school the next day. Well I told her that she was just imagining things and that she should go back to sleep, now I'm wondering how she could have known and if I should have taken the topic more seriously," Sidney explained.

  
  


Brass thought for a moment, then asked a question, "Sydney, did Tara ever have problems with the other kids in the school?"

  
  


"Yeah," Sydney answered. "A lot of the kids in the popular clique picked on her, me, Sammy, Kyle, and Jarred. The popular clique picked on Tara the most, but never in front of Jerome. Tara often talked about doing something about it, but she wouldn't have done this, she loves school," Sydney put special emphasis on the second part of her last sentence.

  
  


"Thanks Sidney, we'll let you know when we find Tara," Grissom promised.

  
  


Sidney nodded, then ran off towards the rest of hers and Tara's inner circle of friends, who were sitting with the other students.

  
  


Grissom was quiet for a moment before turning to Brass.

  
  


"What do you think?" he asked the detective.

  
  


"Sidney's story is the only testimony we've got and it seems to say that the shooter was Tara herself. She even had a motive. I'm sorry Grissom, I really don't want to say it, but until we get more testimony or evidence disproving this theory Tara's our main suspect."


	4. Chapter 3

Untitled (help me with a title, I'm beggin' ya.)

Chapter 3

by Queen Hotaru

  
  


Authors Note: Hi people! BIG NEWS! I got my first flame! It was by someone who signed it Sue and I wanna thank her for it.

In response I'd like to tell her that I do watch CSI and that I'm planning something for Lindsey too. I'd appreciate it if she'd E-mail me, cause I think she could help me sand down the rough edges, so to speak. That is if she'd want to. ^_^

Thanks!

  
  


Disclaimer: Don't own any CSI characters, never will... oh well, I can always hope can't I?

~~~~~

  
  


The radio and the TV were both on and tuned to the news. He had heard this same news report at least 50 times now, but he didn't care. He was pleased with how the shooting had gone.

  
  


He'd half expected one of the students to see his face, but surprisingly, none of them had. Instead, a picture of the 15-year-old genius was being shown on every TV news channel.

  
  


Someone moaned from somewhere in the darkness of the building where they were. The man switched off the TV, leaving the radio on and waited for the girl to wake up.

  
  


It took the girl 3 more minutes to wake up from her knocked out state.

  
  


"Did someone get the license plate number of that semi?" she asked, feeling groggy.

  
  


"No, but I'll get it for you if you'd like," the man replied, speaking through a device that changed the way his voice sounded.

  
  


"Huh? Who's there?" The girl turned and looked around frantically.

  
  


"Who I am isn't important Miss Grissom, what is important is that you cooperate with me. If you do you won't be hurt."

  
  


"What makes you think I won't just break out of here and go to the police?" Tara asked the strange man (she could see his outline in the darkness), still looking around.

  
  


"Because of this." The man switched back on the television set, just in time to catch the news caster begin the school shooting story again.

  
  


"We now switch to our correspondent Lillan Smith, who is standing by at Cactus Blossom High School in Vegas for more on today's big story, the shooting there. Lillan."

  
  


"Yea, thanks Dave. Well, things have calmed down here at CBH in the 2 hours since the shooting, but it is still unclear as to who the shooter is. What we do know is this, the shooting occurred just after 8th period ended. No one saw the shooter's face, but after the shooting occurred one of the students was missing.

"The authorities do have a suspect though, the missing student, namely 15-year-old Tara Grissom. If the name Grissom is familiar to some of you viewers, it should be; this Tara Grissom is the same one who has taken first place in the state-wide science fair for the past 3 years.

"Now, the authorities are asking for the public's help in finding the whereabouts of Tara Grissom. She is 15, has blond hair, and hazel eyes, is about 5 feet, 4 ½ inches tall and weighs about 143 pounds. She was last seen wearing jean shorts, a short sleeved shirt with a Japanese fan and Japanese writing on it, sandals and carrying a black and silver backpack. If anyone has information leading to the whereabouts of Tara Grissom, please notify either Detective Jim Brass of the Las Vegas Police or the Las Vegas CSI unit. Back to you Dave."

  
  


At this point the man turned off the TV.

  
  


Tara stood there in shock.

  
  


'They can't possibly think that I would have done something like this,' she thought.

  
  


"Here are your choices Miss Grissom; either you cooperate with me, or I call the police. I planted your fingerprints on the gun, so even your father may have his doubts as to your innocence," the man explained.

  
  


"Fine," was the only response given.

~~~~~~~~~~

  
  


Grissom, Catherine, and Brass had been at the school for 2 hours. Grissom had called the rest of the team to the crime scene a while ago.

  
  


While Brass, Warrick, and Grissom spoke with the students, Sara, Catherine, and Nick looked around for prints (wearing rubber gloves of course).

  
  


"This is pointless," Sara said to Nick and Catherine. "This is a school. Do you have ANY idea how many students touch the walls and such each day?"

  
  


"Probably over a hundred," Nick speculated.

  
  


"Actually, the school has 1997 students," Catherine said.

  
  


"How do you know that?" Sara inquired.

  
  


"Tara told me when we were discussing her classes last week," came the response.

  
  


"Well, that makes sense," Nick commented, as he dusted a window sill. Suddenly something glinted in the bushes next to the sill. Nick stooped down and picked up the object. "Well, well, well, what do we have here?"

  
  


"What did you find, Nick?" Catherine asked.

  
  


"A gun with a .32 barrel."

  
  


"Possible shooting weapon?" Sara inquired.

  
  


"Possibly."

  
  


"Lets get this to Grissom."

  
  


That said, the three ran to the front of the school, where Brass, Grissom, and Warrick, were still questioning students.

  
  


"Hey, Grissom," Nick called as the three drew closer to the CSI Supervisor.

  
  


"What's going on?" Grissom asked as the three CSIs reached the spot where he, Brass and Warrick were.

  
  


"We found a gun in the bushes over there by the window. It's possible it's the weapon used in the shooting," Nick said.

  
  


"We're done with the questioning," Brass said, speaking up.

  
  


"Good. Lets get the gun back to ballistics," Grissom turned to Warrick. "But first, Warrick, you go retrieve one of the bullets out of the wall inside the building."

  
  


Warrick did this, came back, and the group went back to the crime lab.

~~~~~~~~~

  
  


Tara sat in a room. The room had no light except for the sun, which came in through a small window. She sat under the window, writing today's events down in her diary. She wrote about her innocence and about the place she was being held (from what she could see in the darkness).

  
  


Tara had no clue where she was. She had no idea who her captor was either. She added this to the entry.

  
  


She wrote about how the man had taken her from the school and how he had threatened her. She wrote of how the man had left 30 minutes ago, leaving her in a locked room, and how he hadn't taken her backpack away from her when he left.

  
  


That had puzzled her. Why would a kidnapper leave his victim any possessions that might give them contact to the outside world and allow them to escape or be rescued?

  
  


Tara pushed this thought to the back of her mind. She began to ponder what the man had said about her father finding her fingerprints on the gun.

  
  


'He must have left the gun at the school and that means that eventually Dad will be here,' she thought.

  
  


This thought fresh in her mind, Tara wrote something else in her diary.

  
  


Dora and deal, I've met far inside new ears.

M'i tneconni. Emos nam denapdik em gnirud eht gnitoohs. Eht yug detnalp ym stnirpregnif no eht nug... s'eh kcab. Kool Mossirg, ll'I evael erom ofni nehw I nac.

-Arat

  
  


She had just finished writing this when the man's footsteps stopped in from of the door to the room where she was. He unlocked the door and walked in.

  
  


Tara got a look at the man's face. He had straight brown hair with some silver mixed in, and had grey-blue eyes. By her estimates, he stood about six feet tall and weighed anywhere from 230 to 250 pounds. All in all, he looked a bit intimidating.

  
  


"Well, Miss Grissom, the plan has been finalized," the man said. "We are going to travel by cab."

  
  


"Travel? To where?" Tara asked, narrowing her eyes at the man.

  
  


"I'm not going to answer that. If you don't ask questions, you may live a bit longer, Miss Grissom," the man said, mocking the fact that, at the moment, he had control over her life or death. "You do understand what I mean, correct?"

  
  


Tara nodded.

  
  


"When we get to where we're going, you will go inside and retrieve the person I tell you to. After you have her, get back inside that cab." The man looked down at the diary in Tara's hands and asked, "What's that?"

  
  


"My diary."

  
  


The man made a move to take it from her hands, so as to read it, but Tara pulled it out of his reach.

  
  


"Don't you know that a girl's diary is private?" she exclaimed, acting as if she had been shocked by his move to read it. In reality, she had been expecting this, which had been why she had written that message in the way she had.

  
  


I have heard that, but I need to make sure you haven't written anything that would point specifically to me," the man said.

  
  


"How could I write things that would lead anyone to you when just now was the first time I have even seen your face and I have no clue where I am?" she asked.

  
  


"Point taken. Leave the diary here though. Evidence for the cops to find and incriminate you by." The man laughed. "I'll be back in five minutes. Be ready to leave, and bring your backpack along."

  
  


That said, the man left the room.

  
  


Tara was now jumpy. She was being forced to participate in the abduction of another.

  
  


'This is really not good. What would Dad do in this situation?' She pondered for a moment before coming up with an answer. She didn't know what he would do.

  
  


She stood up and, through the window, saw a car pull up to the building where she was.

  
  


Hastily, Tara added something to the bottom of the strange message in her diary.

  
  


Gnieb decrof ot etapicitrap ni enoemos s'esle noitcudba. T'nod wonk ohw nosrep si tey. Gniog yb bac... bac tsuj dellup pu. Esnecil etalp rebmun: S3X46N. Kcalb Racnwot htiw ruof srood.

  
  


As she finished this, she sat back down on the floor and put her backpack on her back. Tara was hesitant to leave her diary behind. It was the first thing she had bought with her babysitting money. More importantly, there were things written in the book that she didn't want people to see. But if she didn't leave the diary, her dad wouldn't get the message and she didn't want to think of what her captor might to if she didn't leave it. She placed the diary on the ground just as her captor walked into the room.

  
  


"Lets go," was all he said.

  
  


Tara stood up, followed the man to the cab and got inside. The man then looked around, got inside and the cab drove off. The man didn't notice another man looking at Tara, then rush to a payphone which was at a gas station down the road.


	5. Chapter 4

Untitled (This is getting ridiculous. Help me with a title people!)

Chapter 4

by Queen Hotaru

  
  


Author's Notes: Hi people. Ok, there's the deal, in this chapter I say some things about depression, anger and hate. I don't know what really causes them, but I wrote it down anyway. Please don't get offended if I get these things wrong.

  
  


Disclaimer: Don't own CSI characters, but wish I did.

~~~~~~~~

  
  


Grissom sat behind his desk looking at some papers. Some of these papers were analyses on the causes of teen school shootings. The main causes, the papers said, were depression, anger, and hate. The other papers were listing the symptoms of and ways to identify these three things. Grissom read this section in his head.

  
  


'Depression Symptoms: The lack of interest in one's favorite things, disrupted sleep patterns, lack of hunger, drastic change in behavior, sometimes subject becomes more isolated and quiet.

'Anger Symptoms: Harsh behavior when dealing with people and things, subject can be angry for no clear reason. Subject also may take part in verbal or physical clashes with people around him or her.

'Hate: The subject's dislike of something escalates into hate. Hate of school can, very occasionally, cause a minuscule number of students to act drastically in a school setting.'

  
  


"These don't apply to Tara at all," Grissom said as he looked at the paper.

  
  


Suddenly, Grissom's office door opened, causing his Big Mouth Billy Bass to go into it's rendition of 'Take Me to the River'.

  
  


Grissom looked up tp see Catherine standing in the door frame.

  
  


"Come in," he called to her.

  
  


"I've got some news about that gun," she said, stepping into the room.

  
  


"Well?"

  
  


"It's the same .45 that was reported missing from the evidence locker two weeks ago," Catherine told him.

  
  


Grissom was about to speak, when Big Mouth Billy decided to sing an encore.

  
  


Warrick walked into the office holding a printout. He looked at the singing fish with a raised eyebrow, then looked at Grissom, a slight frown on his face.

  
  


"What's the matter with you?" Catherine asked Warrick, seeing his expression.

  
  


"We got the fingerprints off the gun and ID'd them."

  
  


"And?" Grissom prompted.

  
  


"They're Tara's. Sorry Grissom."

  
  


"Tara's not a killer," Grissom said in his ever calm manner. He thought for a moment before speaking again. "Which hand were the prints from?"

  
  


"Her left hand, why?"

  
  


"Tara may write with her left hand, but she does everything else with her right. She would have fired the gun with her right hand, not her left," Grissom said. "Was there anything else on the gun, Warrick?"

  
  


"Yeah, some of her skin tissue was on the butt of the gun. Now, being that Tara is anything but dumb, she'd know not to herself in the head with the gun. Which means, that either we've got two shooters or Tara didn't do it," Warrick stated.

  
  


Just then Sara and Nick popped out from behind Warrick.

  
  


"I hate to interrupt this little conference, but Brass just called. He said some guy spotted Tara coming out of an old warehouse on Brickman Road with a man, then get into a cab with the man and drive off," Sara said.

  
  


"I did a check. There only one warehouse on Brickman Road: the old Sorin Storage Facility. It's been out of business for years," Nick supplied.

  
  


"Well, lets go check it out," Grissom said.

  
  


Everyone gathered their equipment, piled into the vans and drove to the warehouse.

~~~~~~~~~~

  
  


The cab in which Tara and her captor were riding stopped in front of the Las Vegas Elementary School.

  
  


The man told the driver to wait, before he turned to Tara.

  
  


"Why did we stop here?" Tara asked nervously, afraid of what the answer be.

  
  


"Now then, Miss Grissom, I just wanted to inform you that unless you cooperate with me and do as I say, I'll do more than just turn you over to the authorities, but harm will come to and retrieve Lindsey Willows (AN: is that her last name?)."

  
  


Tara gasped.

  
  


'I'll just have to cooperate completely and not try anything,' Tara thought to herself with determination.

  
  


Tara often babysat for Lindsey, so the twosome were close.

  
  


Tara nodded, as if to say 'yes, I understand'.

  
  


With that, the man said something to the driver and the cab started moving again.

~~~~~~~~~

  
  


The 5 CSIs drove up in front of the Sorin Storage Facility and met up with Brass.

  
  


"Did you find anything, Jim?" Grissom asked as the CSIs walked over to where Brass was standing.

  
  


"Not a thing, I haven't looked. I decided to wait for everyone to arrive, since this is such a personal case for all of us," Brass said.

  
  


"Well, since we're all here, lets start looking around inside," Warrick said.

  
  


The others nodded and they all proceeded inside.

  
  


The warehouse was just a big room, a big empty room.

  
  


As they walked through the room, Nick saw another door out of the corner of his eye.

  
  


"Hey guys, there's another room over here," he called to the others.

  
  


Everyone walked over.

  
  


Nick opened the door, noticing it was unlocked (although the key was in the door). Everyone walked in. (AN: of course they're all wearing rubber gloves.) This room was also bare, although there was a window at the far wall.

  
  


Sitting on the floor, near the window, was a book. Nick picked it up and thumbed through it. On the inside cover the words 'Property of Tara Grissom' were written in large letters.

  
  


Nick continued to look at it, what he knew to be, Tara's diary.

  
  


"Hey Grissom, there's some good stuff in this book here," Nick called out.

  
  


"What book is that, Nick?" Grissom asked.

  
  


"Tara's diary. I found it near the window. Listen to this entry:

"'Feb. 12th

"'Once again I passed Betty, Mary, Jenny, Sahara, and Jerina in the hallway at school today and, as usual, they began their daily taunting. But today's tauntings were different.

"'Instead of their usual putdowns about my skills in school and about my genius status they insulted me about what Dad does for a living.

"'"Oh your dad works with dead bodies," Jerina started. "How gross."

"'I then retorted: "It's a really cool job and it takes a lot of knowledge and science skills to do. I highly doubt that any of you could do it.

"'Betty, who I can't believe I was friends with after she transferred to CBH, then made her comment. "I bet we could handle it. Do you spend time at that gross crime lab?"

"'I was about to answer, but she kept going.

"'"Of course you do. I bet that's the only time you get to see your dad too."

"'I told her that it wasn't the only time. Some nights Dad's home early. He was last night. It was sorta funny, he walked in the door just as I was doing my experiment on the effects of hummingbird DNA in canaries. But I'll bet to that later.

"'I told Betty that I hung out at the crime lab because I enjoyed it and so that the Lab Rat could have some help -not that his job's that hard.

"'Sahara then made her insult: "I bet that your dad doesn't love you or even like you and that's why he's always at that crime lab, to stay away from you."

"'Mary went after Sahara. "Yeah, you're adopted, right? Maybe he just adopted you out of pity."

"'I'll tell you, I was past furious. I know that Dad doesn't show it, but he does love me... in his own way.

"'Ya see, when you work at the crime lab as a CSI or anything else (even the janitor ^_^) you need to keep your emotions from getting in the way. You can't have a stomach, so to speak. I've been working on that for a while, in hopes of helping on a case; and now I'm the Lab Rat's unofficial assistant.

"'Dad's pretty much married to his work, but I don't mind. He's always showing and telling me these methods of using experiments to prove stuff, such as time of death, cause of death, actual time of death (explaining that required pictures) and so on.

"'I don't show emotions during run-ins with- as I like to call them- The Five Populars. (Although I don't see why they're so popular, all they do is flirt with guys, hang out with other popular students, and pick on me and some other kids.) Today I couldn't stop myself from showing emotion. I got so upset that my eyes started tearing.

"'It was then that Jerina said: "Look guys, Tara's such a wimp. She can't handle the truth that she was adopted out of pity and her dad doesn't really even love her."

"'My eyes teared more. They all started laughing at me. It was them that I ran up and slapped Jerina across the face, leaving a nice, big red mark in the middle of her perfect complection.

"'She stood stunned for a couple of seconds, then she tried to run after me. (I had made i to the school's main door and gotten outside.) I quickly ran home, called the school and explained.... er... lied, saying that I hadn't been feeling well. I then ran up to my room and cried for like 3 hours... yes, pathetic as it may sound, I sort of timed it.

"'If they think that I'm a wimp they're wrong. I'm gonna prove that I'm not. I have to figure out what I'll do to prove it though. Hey I know! Shawn Jerome still owes me a favor. I'll ask him to the Sadie Hawkins Day Dance (we have it in February, don't ask me why), you see Jerina has a crush on him.

"'Later.

"'-Tara."

  
  


Nick continued thumbing through the diary as he continued speaking. "Sounds to me that Tara has a problem with some kids at school."

  
  


"Well that's stating the obvious," Warrick said as Nick handed him the diary. Warrick start thumbing out through the book. He came upon the last page with writing on it. "Hey, what's this?"

  
  


"What'd you find Warrick?" Sara asked

  
  


"Something that doesn't make sense."

  
  


"How so?" Catherine asked.

  
  


"It just doesn't make any sense. Listen, I'll read the first sentence. 'Dora and deal, I've met far inside new ears'."

  
  


"Sounds to me that Tara has just proven that there truly is a thin line between genus and insanity," Sara said.

  
  


"It could be a code," Catherine commented. "What do you think, Grissom?"

  
  


"It is a code. I taught it to her. The first letter of each word is part of our mystery message," Grissom said.

  
  


"So," Warrick started. "our first sentence is 'Dad I'm fine.' The message is for you Grissom."

  
  


"Keep reading it out loud, Warrick," Grissom said, as he and the others continued to dust for prints and such.

  
  


"Ok. 'M'i tneconni."

  
  


"What language is that?" Nick asked.

  
  


"It's backwards," Grissom supplied. "Another code."

  
  


"I'm getting nothing fingerprint wise, Grissom," Sara said.

  
  


"I have a handprint of Tara's over here, but that's it," Catherine added.

  
  


"In that case, lets get back and decipher that message," Grissom said.

  
  


The 5 CSIs nodded and then drove back to the crime lab after taking pictures of the scene.

  
  
  
  


It had been an hour since the 5 CSIs had gotten back to the crime lab. Warrick had decoded the message and the group (including Brass) sat in the break room.

  
  


"Here's the message which I decoded from Tara's diary," Warrick started. "Dad, I'm fine. I'm innocent. Some man kidnaped me during the shooting. The guy planted my fingerprints on the gun... he's back. Look Grissom, I'll leave you more info when I can.

-Tara'" Warrick took a breath, then continued. "There was a second part, probably written several minutes later. It reads: 'Being forced to cooperate with the kidnaper. Don't know his identity yet. Going somewhere by cab... Cab just pulled up. License plate number S3X46N. Black Towncar with four doors'."

  
  


"Well, I guess that gives us something to go on," Sara commented. "I'll go check the DMV licence plate files."

  
  


Suddenly the receptionist's voice came through the speaker announcing a call for Catherine. She picked up the phone and started talking.

  
  


"Hello."

-Pause-

"Oh, hello."

-Pause-

"No, I didn't."

-Pause-

"Is she ok?"

-Pause-

"Yes, that's fine."

-Pause-

"Yes, thank you for telling me. Goodbye."

  
  


Catherine hung up the phone and was quiet, she seemed to have paled a bit.

  
  


"What's the matter?" Grissom asked.

  
  


"Lindsay has a headache and the nurse wanted to know if she could give her some aspirin," Catherine answered.

  
  


"Oh," Grissom responded; after this he became quiet, hoping that Tara was alright.


	6. Chapter 5

As of yet Untitled (Oh for goodness sakes, won't other people help me out with title ideas too? Please!)

Chapter 5

by Queen Hotaru

  
  


Author's Note: Hi people! I want to give a shout out to those of you who have sent in ideas for the title of the story. I'd like to try and get a few more ideas before I make my decision.

  
  


Disclaimer: I own none of the original CSI characters. I do own Tara Grissom.

  
  


Story Notes:

1)Words in bold and italic fonts is something that is written (with the exception of the word 'by.' which appears as it just did).

2) Things inside the bios that are inside two of these * are things I changed or added to Grissom's bio.

3) As for Tara's bio, if anyone has any ideas for anything I should add to it, just write it in a review or E-mail me directly and I'll add it.

4) Also, lets just say the date when this chapter takes place is March 5th. Keep that in mind, because I use the date later on and you need to know the date to understand the reaction that is given.

~~~~~~~

  
  


Catherine sat in a chair in the break room thinking. She stood up and started walking towards her office. As she walked passed Grissom's office, something caught her attention. She walked inside, setting the Big Mouth Billy Bass off in its song.

  
  


Grissom looked up and saw Catherine standing there.

  
  


"I thought you had gone home for the day, due to today's events," she said.

  
  


"Me, leave the office?" he said, a bit of sarcasm detectable in his ever calm voice. "Catherine, you know I don't leave the office for home during cases unless I take a vacation, and I always give advanced notice when I do."

  
  


It was true. Grissom had been known to come into work when he was sick. Those days, Tara would call the school, say she was sick, and come to the lab with Grissom to make sure he didn't make himself sicker. Sometimes, when Grissom was sick at a crime scene, Tara'd keep an eye on him while helping out, because, with the supervisor not on top of the game (so to speak) they were technically down one person.

  
  


Catherine simply nodded and walked out of the office.

~~~~~~~~

  
  


'The towncar drove down roads that would, ultimately, lead to a house, not far from Vegas (according to what Faith had heard the man tell the driver). It was obvious to Faith that the kidnaper had the means to get rid of her at a moment's notice.

'During the ride, the man told Faith she was to act as if she was his daughter. At this command, Faith nodded her head furiously, fearing for her safety.

'Once the man had turned back around and started the car, Faith let out a breath she didn't even know she didn't realize she was holding. She put her head down on her palm, looked out the window and watched the scenery pass her b'

  
  


"What are you writing, Miss Grissom?" The voice of Tara's kidnaper cut through the large backseat of the towncar (which was where Tara and sat).

  
  


"Oh, it's just a story I'm going to tell Lindsay the next time I babysit her," Tara said, looking at the man, who was sitting in the front seat, next to the driver.

  
  


"That is if you babysit her again," the man said, threateningly.

  
  


Tara looked down at the paper in her lap and said, "With any luck I will."

  
  


The man turned back around, and looked over at the driver. They were talking about something.

  
  


'They must know each other or something,' she thought.

  
  


Tara finished writing the word 'by' on the paper she had taken out of her three-ring binder (which had been inside her backpack). After doing this, she looked at her watch. She wrote the date and time on top of the paper and pulled it out of her three-ring binder. She then folded the paper in half and wrote the words: 'For Friends and Fans of Mixed-up, Made-up, Mystical, Magical Stories' in big letters on the folded half of the paper. Tara then took the paper, placed it inside the fold-up armrest and pushed it up into the seat.

  
  


'They should have no trouble finding this,' she thought.

  
  


With that, Tara put her binder back in her backpack. She then took out a copy of a forensic science magazine Grissom had given her the morning before, and started to read calmly.

~~~~~~~

  
  


Warrick walked into the room where Sara was doing research in the Las Vegas DMV database.

  
  


"Any luck?" he asked.

  
  


"Just found the car," she answered.

  
  


A piece of paper emerged from the printer.

  
  


"It's a towncar, '97 model, licensed to the Edgewood Taxi Service," Sara read off the sheet. 

  
  


"Lets get this to Grissom," Warrick said.

  
  


Sara nodded and with that, the two walked to Grissom's office.

  
  


"We've got the car," Sara announced as she walked through the door, which was open (so as to keep Big Mouth Billy from singing).

  
  


"'97 Towncar, belonging to the Edgewood Taxi Service," Warrick added.

  
  


"Hey, I found the info; I should say it," Sara protested.

  
  


"Sorry." Warrick shrugged his shoulders in an 'oh well' gesture.

  
  


Grissom watched this transaction stone-faced. Once both Sara and Warrick had finished talking, he spoke up.

  
  


"Normally, I'd tell you to call Brass and have his people take care of this, but I want this case solved ASAP, so you two go down as well. Call Brass and have him and his people meet you there with a warrant."

  
  


With that, Grissom walked out of his office, followed by Sara and Warrick, who went to get their kits and then headed down to the garage.

  
  


Grissom made his way to the break room and walked up to Catherine and Nick.

  
  


Nick was looking through the community fridge. Catherine, on the other hand, was looking at a small yellow bird that was, at the moment, flying around its cage and flapping its wings at an alarmingly fast rate.

  
  


"What are you looking at?" Grissom asked as he entered the room.

  
  


Nick turned around first and held up a jar.

  
  


"Another experiment of yours?" he asked the supervisor.

  
  


Grissom nodded and said, "The fridge in the lab ran out of room."

  
  


Nick rolled his eyes and put the container back in the refrigerator. There was no winning when arguing with Grissom.

  
  


Catherine took this opportunity to speak.

  
  


"Hey Gris, since when do we have a bird in here, and why is it flapping its wings so fast?"

  
  


"You recall that when Nick read Tara's diary there was a mention of an experiment on the effects of hummingbird DNA in canaries? That was the outcome," Grissom said in a very controlled voice as he pointed to the bird. "A canary with the speed of a hummingbird."

  
  


(AN: I know, not realistic, oh well. It's my story ^_^.)

  
  


Catherine looked at the bird, shocked. A 15-year-old had done this?

  
  


Getting back to business, Grissom said, "I want you two to come with me. We're going back to the school to see if we missed anything on the inside that might lead to our kidnaper's identity."

  
  


Catherine and Nick nodded.

  
  


With that the three CSIs gathered their equipment and drove off toward CBH, Nick at the wheel.

  
  


On the way to the high school, Catherine noticed that Grissom seemed to be in deeper thought than usual.

  
  


"What's the matter?" she asked.

  
  


No response.

  
  


"Grissom?"

  
  


Still, no response.

  
  


"Grissom!"

  
  


Grissom snapped out of his thoughts. "Wha?"

  
  


"What's the matter with you, Grissom? Catherine called your name twice before you answered," Nick said. "Somethin' wrong?"

  
  


"The fingerprints Warrick found on the gun from the high school are Tara's, and some of her tissue was found on the butt of the gun," Grissom explained to Nick and Catherine; unease hinted in his voice. "The fingerprints were from her left hand, but Tara does everything but write with her right hand. Something's not right with this whole scenario."

  
  


"Oh," was Nick's only response.

  
  


"Hey Gris, I was thinking," Catherine started. "I saw Tara at a practice range a month and a half ago."

  
  


Grissom looked up. Tara at the practice range... This was news to him and it didn't sound as if it would help the case.

  
  


"What was she doing?" Grissom asked hesitantly. The answer was obvious and he knew what it was, but he wanted to hear it anyway.

  
  


"She was doing some shooting," Catherine responded. She, herself, was also trying not to get upset or let the fact that Tara was in danger.

  
  


"When I walked in, she was trying a .32 out on some targets," she continued. "After that, she switched to a .45. When she fired it, she had to take a step back due to the after-kick and the gun hit her square in the forehead."

  
  


"What are you saying, Catherine," Nick asked, concerned.

  
  


"Most young women can't effectively fire a .45. Tara doesn't have the necessary muscle tones in her upper arms needed to support a .45 for more than two minutes. A .45 isn't a gun that a teenage girl can fire correctly unless the girl has had training for it, which I know for a fact, Tara has not. What that means is that Tara couldn't possibly have used the gun we found. Ergo, she's off the suspect list," Catherine explained.

  
  


Grissom looked a bit relieved. "Thanks for the information, Catherine."

  
  


"One question, Cath," Nick said. "Where did Tara get the gun? I mean, she's a minor and she couldn't have checked it out of the evidence locker."

  
  


"From what I saw, she was helping Warrick determine whether or not someone of Tara's size and stature could use those two guns, because the suspect in the case he was on was the same size as Tara," Catherine explained.

  
  


"Remind me to have a chat with Warrick about this," Grissom commented.

  
  


At that moment, Nick pulled into the high school's parking lot and turned off the van's engine. The three CSIs stepped out of the Tahoe and walked to the school, which was now a crime scene (classes had been canceled until further notice). After flashing their badges to the police officer at the door, they walked into the building.

  
  


Grissom, Catherine, and Nick started looking around for evidence they might have missed or clues that would lead to the kidnaper's identity. Pulling on examination gloves the three CSIs began their search.

  
  


Catherine walked to the main door and looked around for bullets and any other evidence. She found one diagonally across the hall from where she was standing.

  
  


'The bullet was shot from here,' she thought.

  
  


She walked forward and looked around until she saw the next bullet. It was straight in the wall; no angles, just straight in.

'Wait, the bullet holes are really small. There must have been another gun.' Catherine picked up tne of the bullets and looked at it. 'A .32.'

  
  


Catherine did some calculations in her head, put the bullets into a bag in her kit, took pictures of the bullet holes, and continued walking.

  
  


As she kept walking down the hall she saw bullets embedded in wooden doors, not that there were many wooden doors on this on this floor (most were metal [think of the kind used in NYC public schools]). The metal doors had bullet indentations in them.

  
  


On the other side of the hallway, Grissom was doing the same thing as Catherine: looking for clues as to the kidnaper's identity.

  
  


"Well, at least we roughly know his height," Catherine said.

  
  


"How tall would you say he was?" Grissom asked, in as normal a voice as he could muster. He was really unnerved inside, due to the whole kidnaping thing.

  
  


"From the height of the bullet over there that seems to have been shot straight into the wall..." she pointed to the bullet she was talking about, "I'd say maybe somewhere between 5'9" and 6'1"," came the reply. "The height isn't even close to Tara's. Just more evidence to support the fact that Tara's off the suspect list."

  
  


"Keep looking, and nice job," Grissom said evenly, and kept looking around.

  
  


Catherine followed the supervisor's lead.

  
  


While this was going on, Nick was looking down the connecting hallway. (AN: CBH is shaped like a sideways I.)

  
  


The hallways at CBH had more than just normal lockers and bulletin boards in them, there were also several desk-like tables pushed up against the walls. One of these tables, the one situated next to room 137 (the same room Tara had science in earlier that day), had a drawer that was ajar. Nick noticed this and opened the drawer. Inside sat a plain manila folder; its label read 'Research'. Opening the folder, Nick saw its contents and went to get Grissom.

  
  


'Hey,' he thought, 'this wasn't here when we searched the place earlier.'

  
  


"Hey Gris! Cath! I found something, and you might want to take a look at it," Nick said, as he walked up to both of them. They were still looking at the bullets in the wall.

  
  


"What is it, Nick?" was the response from the supervisor.

  
  


"Trust me, you want to see this for yourself," Nick replied. His tone was one of complete seriousness.

  
  


"Where is it, Nick?" Catherine asked.

  
  


"Over here," was the reply.

  
  


Nick led Grissom and Catherine over to the desk where the folder sat, still open.

  
  


"A manilla folder?" Catherine asked, eyebrows raised.

  
  


"It's not the folder," Nick stated, a bit uneasy. "Take a look at the papers inside."

  
  


Grissom did this and a look of half-confusion, half-concentration, with a dash of unease spread across his face.

  
  


The first paper was a bio of himself. It read:

  
  


Name: Gil Grissom

*Occupation: Crime Scene Investigator*

CSI Level: 3

Height: 5'10"

Weight: 168 lbs.

Birthplace: Santa Monica, CA

Birthdate: 8/17/56

Education: B.S. in Biology, UCLA

Marital Status: Single

*Family:

Adopted daughter (niece), Tara

Sister: Lucy, deceased

Brother-in-Law: Matt, deceased*

Previous Employment: Youngest coroner in the history of L.A. County at age 22. Eight years later, a headhunter recruited him to run the Field Services Office in Las Vegas. Grissom has spent the last 15 years helping Las Vegas move from #14 to #2 in the US Crime Lab rankings.

Bio: Grissom grew up in Marina Del Ray, California. His mother ran an art gallery in Venice, and his father was in the "import/export" business, dealing primarily with Communist China. Grissom's parents divorced when he was five. At 8 or 9, Grissom began riding his bike out to the beach every day to collect dead seagulls, opossums, and anything else he could find. He would bring the remains home and conduct autopsies, slowly teaching himself about the ins and outs of death. As a teenager, Grissom became known to local authorities, who employed him for quick autopsies on dead animals such as cats and dogs. By age 16, Grissom was an "unofficial intern" for the L.A. County morgue. He worked his way through college and then went to work full time as the youngest coroner in the history of L.A. County. *At age 30, after a fatal car crash killed his sister and brother-in-law, he took in his two-year-old niece Tara, and adopted her as his own daughter. Five months later he was recruited for the Las Vegas Field Services Office and he and Tara moved to Vegas.* Grissom's philosophy has always been: "If you want to work in forensics, learn about everything else first." *While his colleagues may have reasons for being CSIs,* for Grissom it's not about choice. Grissom could no more work in another profession than a fish could stop swimming. CSI is not a job for Grissom, it's an expression of who he is as a person, the perfect synthesis of personality and profession. *Perhaps, that will be his downfall.*

  
  


Attached to the paper with a paperclip was a picture of Grissom. It looked like the kind of file a school guidance counselor might have... except this much information wasn't kept. The information that was kept was emergency phone numbers and addresses and the like.

  
  


Grissom looked at Nick questioningly, as if asking why Nick had thought to show him the folder.

  
  


"Keep looking, there's more," Nick replied, trying to keep the fear out of his voice. Obviously something he had seen in the papers that came after Grissom's bio had frightened him.

  
  


Grissom moved the paper with his bio on it to the other side of the folder and saw some pictures. There was a picture of the school, one of Tara's school record, and some pictures of Tara at the science fair with the canary.

  
  


Grissom put the pictures aside and saw another bio. He looked down at it. This time, the bio was Tara's. It read:

  
  


Name: Tara Grissom

Nicknames: Genius, Brainiac, Whiz Kid, Firefly, Half-Pint.

Occupation: Student

Height: 5'3"

Weight: 119 lbs.

Birthplace: Specific town unknown. Somewhere in L.A. County, CA.

Birthdate: 7/24/86

Education: Graduate, Las Vegas Elementary School

Graduate, Alfred E. Mosabac Middle School

Completed, 9th grade, Cactus Blossom High School

Currently, 10th grade, Cactus Blossom High School

Occupation: Student

Family: Biological Mother - Lucy Grissom, deceased

Biological Father - Matt Jamen, deceased

Adopted Father (uncle) - Gil Grissom

Previous Employment: Local baby sitter on weekends; tutor; unofficial assistant lab tech at the Las Vegas crime lab.

Bio: Tara spent the first two years of her life in California's L.A. County living with her parents Matt and Lucy. In those two years, she started teaching herself to read and spent countless hours reading the books that she had in her room. She was taken in by her uncle, Gil Grissom (at that time the youngest coroner in L.A. County history) in April 1988, after Matt and Lucy died in a fatal car wreck. After taking her in, Grissom adopted Tara as his legal daughter. Grissom helped her continue learning to read and began to teach her how to write. He was amazed at how intelligent she was for someone so young. Five months later, Grissom was recruited for the Field Services Offices in Las Vegas, and the two of them moved to Vegas. At age four, one year after the move to Vegas, Tara started going to the crime lab and watched what the other CSIs were doing. She spent an excessive amount of time in the DNA lab (knowing not to touch a thing from frequent trips to the morgue when they had been living in L.A. County) and in the break room. At age seven, Tara began having premonitic dreams, with these, she was able to help direct the CSIs to evidence. By ten years of age, she was reading books about advanced algebra, chemistry and other subjects. Grissom took the incentive and had her tested. Tara was a genius. At age 11, Tara met a girl named Sydney Janson at her middle school. The two became best friends, and still are. By age 13, Tara had spent enough time in the DNA lab to know how everything worked. About a month prior, the lab had hired a lab tech named Greg Sanders; Tara quickly became his unofficial assistant. He gave her the nickname Half-Pint. Now in high school, Tara throws herself into her learning, wanting to live up to the high standards expected at the crime lab, while keeping up with her social schedule (that is what little of it she has). Her inner circle of friends includes: Sydney Janson (her best friend, as previously stated), Samantha 'Sam' 'Sammy' Colman (a genius with a paintbrush), Kyle Sterlic (co-editor of the school's newspaper), Jarred Hatfield (the teen poet/code breaker/lock picker), and Jerome Wallace (the most popular male student in the 10th grade). Tara is often teased about her involvement at the crime lab, but she doesn't allow it to get in her way. She is still prone to dream-premonitions once and a while, which she usually wakes up from and calls Sidney about. Her goal is to eventually become a CSI herself. She has adopted her father's philosophy about working at the crime lab: "If you want to work in forensics, learn about everything else first." Tara knows how to get out of bad situations, how to debate and has a good head for reasoning. The downside to these skills/abilities is that she is rather separate from people who don't really know her. Like her adopted father, she is always observing, but she is also slightly impulsive. If these will these be use in her current situation has yet to be determined.

  
  


This bio, just like the one of Grissom, had a picture paper-clipped to it. It was, of course, a photo of Tara. Although, unlike the other bio sheet, someone had written something in by hand at the bottom.

  
  


Deathdate: 3/6/02

Soon to be joining her parents in the grave.

  
  


Grissom looked at the date and froze. Inside, he was now scared beyond words.

  
  


Looking down at the entire paper again he saw four words scrawled at the very bottom of the page in slightly smaller letters than the rest

  
  


Are you scared yet?

  
  


Catherine, who had nervously been reading the papers over Grissom's shoulder, gasped. She had obviously come to the same conclusion Grissom had. It was clear to both her and Grissom that Tara was in more danger than before and unless she was found soon, she might be dead.

  
  


"Oh my god." Catherine gasped. A look of fear spread across her face.

  
  


Grissom had a totally blank look on his face. He handed the folder to Nick.

  
  


"Bag it up. I want it tested for prints and DNA as soon as we get back," Grissom ordered in an extremely serious voice. In his voice one could hear his inner fear for his daughter.

  
  


Nick did as he was told; he quickly bagged the evidence and put it in his kit.

  
  


"Lets get back to the lab and get that folder tested," Grissom said firmly, as he walked away from the table.

  
  


That said, the threesome walked out of the high school, got into the Tahoe and, Nick at the wheel again, drove back toward the crime lab in silence.


	7. Chapter 6

Untitled (help me come up with a title)

Chapter 6

by Queen Hotaru

  
  


AN: none this chapter, except that to remind people to review.

  
  


Disclaimer: Don't own CSI character. Want to, but don't. So don't sue.

  
  


Story Notes: Erica is one of the crime lab's receptionists. I made her up.

~~~~~~~~~~~

  
  


Grissom sat in the van with Catherine and Nick. What he had seen on the second bio in the folder, Tara's bio, stuck in his head.

  
  


Deathdate: 3/6/02

  
  


The bio had obviously been planted there by the kidnaper to scare them. He had to admit, it worked.

  
  


Catherine was pale as a sheet of paper and Nick, who was driving, kept his eyes on the road, but seemed to be in some kind of a trance. As for Grissom. Well, he wasn't showing it, but he was scared out of his wits. The life a 15-year-old girl was in immediate danger. The fact that the girl was his daughter made the situation even worse.

  
  


What they needed now was evidence. Any sort of a clue that would give them information on where Tara were being held. Sure, she was leaving codes, but more was needed. To top it all off, they still didn't know who the kidnaper was or why he had kidnaped her in the first place. All of this unnerved Grissom, he hated not knowing, Tara's life was on the line, or at least it was according to the deathdate on the paper.

~~~~~~~~

  
  


It had been over four hours since Tara, and her kidnaper had arrived at their destination: a very small house just outside Vegas, and it was now dark outside (it was about 10:00). The house, if you could even call it a house, was 3 ½ rooms: a main room that housed the kitchen, dining area, and living room area, a bathroom, a bedroom and a closet (the half room).

  
  


Tara had noticed, when they walked in, that there were several windows in the room.

  
  


On the floor of the living room area, the kidnaper had set up a mattress for the girls to sleep on. The house had no phones, but had electricity.

  
  


In all actuality, as she thought about it now, the house reminded her of where she had stayed when she had gone to Maine with her friend Abby.

  
  


The house up in Maine had had a large main room (used for the same purposes as the one here), two bedrooms, a porch room, a bathroom, and a deck. The house had phones and electricity, but no heat.

  
  


Tara returned to reality, and saw her backpack sitting next to the mattress. Obviously her kidnaper had brought it inside, not wanting to leave evidence in the cab. If only he knew that she done that for him.

  
  


For something to do, Tara took out her binder and started to write the continuation of the story she had told Lindsay when she had last babysat her.

  
  


'Lets see...' she thought, 'Faith and Rachel had just found the cave and the message in the bottle.'

  
  


"Now then... what to write." she thought out loud, then started writing on the paper from her binder (which she had taken out of her backpack).

  
  


'Faith and Rachel looked at the bottle cautiously.

'"What do you think, Rach?" Faith asked.

'"Lets open it! Maybe it'll lead us to buried treasure!" Rachel exclaimed, picking the bottle up. In her hands.

'Faith took the bottle from Rachel and removed the cork from it. Using her flashlight, Faith read what the notes said.

'"To whomever finds this, I leave my gold and chests in which my treasure holds. Look for a stream, look for a horseshoe, and dig under the sand.'

'"Hey, it's a puzzle!' Rachel exclaimed. 'So we need to go look for a stre-"'

  
  


Tara was interrupted as the kidnaper handed her a pillow and some blankets. The man then turned out all the lights in the house and walked into the bedroom.

  
  


"I guess that means lights out. Oh well," Tara said to herself.

  
  


Tara tossed a sheet over the plain mattress. She then put the pillows on and she lay down under a thin blanket. (Not that they needed it, this was Las Vegas, it's warm.)

  
  


Tara was awake for several hours, contemplating what to do next, before falling into a restless sleep.

~~~~~~~~

  
  


At the crime lab things were hectic.

  
  


It was about 10:00 PM.

  
  


Warrick and Sara walked through the lab door holding an envelope labeled '3-ring binder paper: evidence'. They walked into the break room and put down their kits. Sitting in the break room, silent as a mouse and more agitated than usual, was Nick.

  
  


"What's the matter with you?" Sara asked, seeing the state Nick was in.

  
  


"We went back to the high school and found a folder containing both Grissom's and Tara's bios. Tara's bio had a deathdate written in on the bottom and that has Gris, Cath, and I uptight, because Tara's at risk of bein' killed and we don't want to loose her," Nick told them, in a quite voice. He raise his voice a bit as he asked, "What'd you get at the taxi service?"

  
  


"We found the car, and inside the fold-up armrest in the back seat was a piece of paper with the words 'To the Friends and Fans of Mixed-up, Made-up, Mystical, Magical Stories' on it," Warrick reported.

  
  


"We'd better get this to Mandy, it needs to be fingerprinted." That said, Sara walked off to get that task done.

*****

  
  


Grissom sat in his office with Catherine. Both were uptight (what an understatement) about Tara's situation.

  
  


"So what now? We can't just sit here and wait while this madman kills her!" Catherine finally exclaimed after 5 minutes of reflection.

  
  


"True, but we don't have much of a choice. Tara's now off the suspect list and the media is already reporting on the kidnaping and asking the public for help; but until we have more evidence, we can't do anything," Grissom responded, in a voice that was spotted with fear here and there.

  
  


Suddenly, the office door opened and Sara stepped in.

  
  


"I hope I'm not interrupting anything, but we found something at the taxi service, and we just finished fingerprinting it. The prints are Tara's. Would you come out and see if what she wrote is another code, cause I don't understand it, not really."

  
  


Catherine and Grissom stepped out of Grissom's office and followed Sara to where the paper was. The paper was still folded in half and the words 'For Friends and Fans of Mixed-up, Made-up, Mystical, Magical Stories' could be seen.

  
  


Catherine realized what the words meant immediately.

  
  


"There must be a code inside," she said. "The 'Mixed-up, Made-up' story series are the ones that Tara tells Lindsay. The stories are about two girls that are based on the two of them, Faith, based on Tara, and Rachel, Lindsay's characterization. Tara makes the stories up herself. Open the paper and see what it says."

  
  


This was done, but the paper gave no further clues, except for the fact that Tara was alive at 4:39, which was the time written at the top of the paper in her handwriting.

Grissom and Catherine returned to their seats in Grissom's office. At this point they were just trying to digest what had happened these past few hours.

  
  


Suddenly, the phone rang.

  
  


Grissom picked it up.

  
  


"Hello?"

-Pause-

"Yes, please put it through, Erica."

  
  


Catherine looked at Grissom puzzled.

  
  


"It's the Sheriff," came the answer.

  
  


The phone rang again and Grissom turned on the speaker phone.

  
  


"Hello?" he said.

  
  


"Hello, Gil," the voice said. "and Catherine, I'm guessing that she's in your office. The two of you are probably figuring out what to do from here."

  
  


"Yes Brian, she is. What do you want?" Grissom asked the person on the other end of the line, Brian Mobley, the Sheriff.

  
  


"I've been looking over what you have on this case so far, Gil, and noticed that the missing person is Tara."

  
  


"What about it, Brian?" Catherine asked. She was glaring at the phone as if it were Brian himself. Both she and Grissom were upset enough about this without the sheriff making it worse, as he always seemed to do.

  
  


"I won't sugar cote this. I'm taking both of you off this particular case, Gil," Brian said, being straight forward about it.

  
  


"What!?" Catherine exclaimed. "You can't think that I can actually do that. I mean this is his daughter we're talking about."

  
  


"I'm serious, Catherine," came the firm response.

  
  


"Brian, I don't think that you should take me off the case completely. Think of it this way, no one knows Tara better than me. Tara's been using coded messages to communicate information to us, if I wasn't working on the case, it would have taken longer to decode them," Grissom argued. He knew he shouldn't, but this was his daughter's life they were talking about. "At least let me be on this case a consultant."

  
  


There was a sigh heard over the phone. Brian was obviously not happy, he didn't like Grissom's political incorrectness.

  
  


"Fine," Brian said, giving in to the request. Normally he wouldn't do this, but it was a matter having to do with Grissom's only immediate family member, and Brian wasn't completely heartless.

  
  


With that the phone connection was severed.

  
  


Grissom could already tell he wasn't going to be getting ANY sleep that night.

  
  


Catherine walked out of Grissom's office to spread the 'cheery' news that the supervisor was technically off the case, due to personal ties to the victims; leaving Grissom in his office.

  
  


Grissom pulled out a small photo album that he kept in his desk drawer, and opened it. Inside were pictures of himself, Tara (at varying ages), and other people. Most of the photos had been taken at the lab. Grissom thought of it as kind of a 'family photo album'.

  
  


He turned to one page and gave a small, slightly sad, smile.

  
  


That specific picture was of himself, Warrick, Catherine, Nick, Tara (at age 13 or 14), and Holly Gribbs. The photo had been taken the night Holly had died, several hours before they got called to the crime scene.

  
  


After looking at the photo, Grissom closed the album and left it on his desktop.

  
  


It was going to be a very long night.


	8. Chapter 7

Untitled (Well, actually, a more accurate title would be: The Story that has Gotten Several Title Ideas, of which the Author Can't Choose)

Chapter 7

by Queen Hotaru

  
  


Disclaimer: Don't own CSI characters. Why do people put these disclaimers on anyway? It's not like it changes the fact that this stuff is still copyright infringement, but oh well.

~~~~~~~~~~~

  
  


Grissom sat at his desk. He was sitting up, and if someone looked through the office door they could tell that he was asleep. It was 8:14 A.M. Grissom had fallen asleep waiting for the results of the tests run on the folders and the bios they had found at CBH.

  
  


Suddenly, there was a sharp knock on the door.

  
  


No response.

  
  


The knocker opened the door slightly, setting off the Big Mouth Billy Bass. The loud singing of the fish caused Grissom to nearly jump out of his chair as he awoke.

  
  


"Come in," he said, yawning.

  
  


Mandy Johnson, the lab's fingerprinting tech, walked into the office. (AN: I don't know what her real last name is.)

  
  


"Good morning, Gris."

  
  


"Morning?" he questioned.

  
  


"Yeah, you fell asleep at your desk last night. Look I heard that, while you're technically off Tara's case, you're still acting as a consultant on it. I thought you'd want to know what we found on the bios," Mandy said.

  
  


"Yes, I do want to hear that, but first, would you try and answer a question for me?"

  
  


Mandy nodded.

  
  


Grissom cleared his throat and started.

  
  


"I was thinking about this earlier. About three, maybe four years ago, we ran into a murderer who left bios as clues, correct?"

  
  


"Yeah, I read about that in the paper when it happened," Mandy replied.

  
  


"Good. Do you remember who committed those murders?"

"The guy's name was Sam Hurol, he's the same person who escaped from prison yesterday. We found his fingerprints on the folder and the bios," Mandy told him, quietly.

  
  


The whole crime lab was upset about Tara's kidnaping. She was always full of energy and always wanted to help, and was liked by most of the crime lab's staff, not just by the night shift.

  
  


Upon hearing Mandy's answer, Grissom's expression froze. He recalled the radio announcement he and Tara had heard at breakfast yesterday morning, before all this had happened.

  
  


"I helped put him on death row, and now he's out for revenge," Grissom said, almost at a whisper, realizing the motive for the kidnaping. Once again, the deathdate from Tara's bio flashed across his mind.

  
  


"Sorry Grissom." With that, Mandy left the supervisor's office, not knowing what else to do.

  
  


It took about 2 minutes before Grissom finished thinking everything out. He picked up the phone and dialed Brass' extension.

  
  


"Brass."

  
  


"Jim, it's Gil."

  
  


"Morning. You sound like you just woke up," Brass said. He knew how tense the situation was, not only for Grissom, but for all of them, including Brass. Jim still remembered the first time Gil had brought Tara to the lab, she had been really quiet, just observing.

  
  


"I did just wake up. Look, we've got a match on a fingerprint found on a folder found at the high school yesterday," Grissom responded.

  
  


"And who is our suspected kidnaper?" Brass asked.

  
  


"Not suspected. This guy has a motive and everything. It's Hurol."

  
  


"Hurol? Sam Hurol? No wonder we couldn't find any evidence against him other than Tara's notes, that guy is a professional murderer. We still don't know how he escaped in the first place, I have no idea."

  
  


"That's not important right now, Jim. Hurol is out for revenge.... on me; and if what he wrote on the profile of Tara he put together, he plans on killing her today, which means we are running out of time," Grissom said, slight fear could be heard in his voice.

  
  


"I'll put a call out for all officers to be on the look out for the two of them. Other than that there's nothing more we can do, until we get more information," Brass said, softly.

  
  


"Thanks Jim. I'll let you know when we find something."

  
  


Grissom hung up the phone and thought for a minute.

  
  


"Wait a second, he's a professional. He never leaves print evidence behind. He wanted us to know who he is. He planted the fingerprint for us to find. He's playing games with us."

  
  


Sara walked into the office as Grissom was saying this.

  
  


"What are you talking about, Grissom? And did you even leave your office last night?" she asked.

  
  


"The kidnaper is Sam Hurol; his fingerprints turned up on the folder, and it fits his pattern. No evidence, but a hidden folder, with the profile of the person in it. And yes, I fell asleep at my desk yesterday."

  
  


"That's puzzling," a new voice said, joining the conversation.

  
  


Grissom and Sara up looked and saw that Warrick, Nick, Catherine, and Greg had all entered the office.

  
  


"I heard from Mandy about the identity of Half-Pint's kidnaper," Greg said, trying to lighten the mood by using the nickname he had given her.

  
  


"For the moment there's nothing we can do but wait," Grissom said, his voice covering his fear.

~~~~~~~~

  
  


Tara sat up, wondering what came next.

  
  


According to her watch, it was 8:30 A.M., which meant she had been sleeping on and off (mostly off) for approximately 11½ hours. Actually, Tara had, in all, gotten about 4 hours of sleep. For most of the night, Tara had been thinking.

  
  


She could hear her captor's breathing coming from the bedroom. She wanted to hurt him, wanted to do anything that would give her time to get away without being at risk of being caught. But she couldn't do that, she couldn't risk putting Lindsay or anyone else at risk. She knew that her captor was serious in his threat. Tara knew who he was. Sam Hurol, the father of Tara's late friends Alex and Janice Hurol, whom he had killed.

  
  


Tara lay back down on the mattress, which lay on the floor in the middle of the common area (a.k.a. the living room/dining room/kitchen area), and thought again.

  
  


'Why did I have to let my impulses get the best of me?' Tara thought, she felt water begin to fill her eyes. 'Why did I have to try and disable Hurol at the school. Oh yeah, because he was shooting my friends and classmates.'

  
  


Tara looked around the room.

  
  


There were several windows in the common area. Tara looked out the window, but didn't see any familiar landmarks, or course, she hadn't expect to.

  
  


Tara heard the bedroom door open. She turned and saw Hurol walk into the room. A slight feeling of dread began to form in the pit of her stomach.

  
  


Hurol walked to the table, which stood in the dining are of the room. After sitting in one of the four chairs which were already placed around the round table, Hurol took an automatic gun out of his pocket and motioned for Tara to come and sit down. When Tara didn't move, Hurol pointed his gun at her. Not wanting to be shot, Tara moved and sat down in a chair across the table from the gun-wielding man. As she sat down, Hurol lowered his gun.

  
  


"Now then, Tara, was that so hard?" he asked, mockingly.

  
  


Tara gave no response; she simply folded her hands in front of her on the tabletop and closed her eyes.

  
  


"Silent treatment? No matter, it's not like I'm interrogating you; I just figured you'd have some questions for me."

  
  


Again there was no response.

  
  


"Come now, Miss Grissom, there must be something you want to know," he prompted calmly.

  
  


There was another moment of silence, followed by a quiet "Why?" from Tara, eyes still closed.

  
  


"Why what?"

  
  


Tara slowly opened her eyes.

  
  


"Why go through all this trouble? I know that you're really after my dad, so why not just go and kill him directly?" she asked keeping her voice even.

  
  


Hurol smirked and answered, "If I were to kill Gil directly, I'd have kill him in the morning, when you'd be at school and he'd be home alone; if I did that, he wouldn't show up for work that night. That would tell your friends at the lab that something's amiss. There'd be an investigation and, knowing the way everyone on the night shift is, they'd track me down and I'd be killed on the spot."

  
  


Tara was starting to get nervous. Here this madman seemed to have had everything planned to kill her father, but he wasn't using that plan. The question was what was he planning NOW, and when it was going to be carried out.

  
  


'Ok girl. Stay calm,' Tara told herself, trying stay calm and under control.

  
  


Breathing deeply, Tara spoke again.

  
  


"If you're just using me as bait why haven't you killed me yet?"

  
  


'NO girl! Shut up!' she mentally screamed at herself. 'Don't heckle the madman! If anything, DON'T GIVE HIM ANY IDEAS!!'

  
  


"Hasn't your uncle ever told you that when you've been kidnaped it's best to stay quiet and not say things to provoke or give ideas to your captor?" Hurol asked.

  
  


"No," Tara said, her inner fear not tainting her calm tone, "the situation never called for him to give me that advice. Now, if you'd be so kind to answer my question."

  
  


"You're treading on thin ice, Tara. I must have gotten you very scared, or else you wouldn't be acting like this," he said, pointing the gun at her. Tara gasped and her fear came out in her face. "Come on now. Where's the brave girl that was here a second ago? Huh? Strange how a situation can change in a second, isn't it?"

  
  


With that, Hurol cocked the gun and pulled the trigger.

  
  


Tara sat ridged. The bullet flew past her, not even an inch and a half from her face.

  
  


"Nothing much to say now, huh? Good. Here's the answer to your question. I'm keeping you alive because I need you to die later. Your uncle is a very protective person and I now have him in the palm of my hand."

  
  


"What do you mean?" Tara asked, fear still visible in her eyes, but not detectible in her voice. After a moment she continued. "They will find you, you know. One way or another, you will be caught in the end. They'll pick up my trail."

  
  


Hurol laughed.

  
  


"Haha. You mean those notes you were dropping? Priceless." Hurol laughed some more. "Don't you get it? I want to lead them here. It's all a part of the game. Haven't you ever heard the story of the spider and the ant?"

  
  


When there was no response, Hurol continued.

  
  


"The spider was hungry, so it collected some food, made a trail with it, and made a web where the trail ended. The ant came upon the trail and followed it. Looking at the ground, following the trail, he didn't see the spider's web and walked right into it. We all know what spiders do with things that get caught in their webs when they are hungry..." Hurol trailed off, leaving Tara ridged in fear, both for herself and her father.

~~~~~~~~~~

  
  


Grissom sat in his office looking at something in a picture frame.

  
  


The clock on the wall now read 10:30.

  
  


Since receiving the phone call from the Sheriff he had put Catherine in charge of the shift. Catherine, in turn, had put Warrick in charge of the field work, so she could supervise the supervisor.

  
  


Catherine now stood in the doorway to his office, wondering if she should enter. Before she could make a decision, the man behind the desk simply said "Come in", which she did.

  
  


Catherine sat in the chair across the desk from Gil and waited for him to speak. It took several minutes, but he finally did.

  
  


"Y'know, when we heard about the school shooting, I never would have thought I'd end up looking at this picture and wondering if I did the right thing," he said, absentmindedly.

  
  


"What do you mean, Gil?" Catherine asked, confused.

  
  


"By taking her in. I know it's what they would have wanted, but... I just don't know."

  
  


Grissom handed the frame over to Catherine; she took it and looked at the photograph. It seemed to be a family portrait. Standing together in the photo were Grissom, Tara, and two people whom Catherine had never seen before; a tall man about Gil's height with light brown hair and brown eyes and a woman with dark blond hair and green eyes about three inches shorter than the men.

  
  


"'They' being your sister and brother-in-law, Gil?" Catherine asked, referring to his prior statement. She knew about Tara's birth parents from what Grissom had told her, but she didn't know the specifics. She figured that Grissom needed someone to talk to, and if he needed to, she'd be there for him to tell.

  
  


"Yes, Lucy and Matt," he responded. "They were good people. Lucy was a bit serious at times, but that seems to be a family trait, wouldn't you agree?"

  
  


"If she had work habits that are anything like yours, I'd say that's an understatement," she joked.

  
  


"Yeah," he sighed. "When Tara was two, they died in a car wreck. Tara was in the car at the time and ended up in the hospital. In Lucy and Matt's wills I had been appointed Tara's guardian, but after she was released from the hospital I adopted her as my legal daughter. She knows that I'm really her uncle, but she says that I'm the one who raised her for the most part and as such am her father," Grissom paused for a minute before letting out a strained laugh. "You know, it's kinda funny. Lucy had hazel eyes and Matt had brown eyes, but somehow, Tara's eyes came out like Mom's and mine, blue. Lucy and I had agreed that Tara acted like me..." Gil trailed off.

  
  


"You're a good parent Gris, don't sell yourself short," Catherine said smiling. "Tara thinks so too, I should know, I've heard her say it myself. She looks up to you and loves you as if you were her real father; that's a good thing. As is this overprotectiveness. It's a natural parental feeling," she explained.

  
  


Grissom nodded.

  
  


"I remember during Holly Gribbs' first day, Holly and I were talking and Tara walked up. She had heard Brass say something to you about all new hires experiencing an autopsy on their first night. Tara stopped in front of us, excused herself, and began briefing Holly on the case at hand. She told her what to expect inside the morgue, what to expect on the examining table, and even what kind of stuff to expect from Brass," Catherine recalled.

  
  


"Yea, that sounds like something Tara would do," Grissom said. "Or when she added her name to the Crime Solve Score Board because she had helped us crack a few cases. In fact, no one's bothered to her name down yet."

  
  


"That was classic," she responded. "Also the time Shibley got sick while taking notes on that Collins case, she took over and checked later to make sure he was ok."

  
  


"I know. I just feel so useless now, Cath. All I can do on this case is sit at my desk and wait for someone to call or come to me with a question. Now I understand why you didn't want me to take you off Eddie's supposed rape case."

  
  


"Well, this one's harder to deal with, on several levels. But we'll crack it; we always do."

  
  


At that point, Grissom motioned to his fish-shaped corkboard and said, "You were saying?"

  
  


"Gil, can't you just look on the bright side? Warrick, Nick, and Sara are checking the fumigated cab for anything they may have missed. Brass has his uniforms on the lookout for anything that might lead to Tara's location. Tara's friends and their parents have been calling to check up on you, to make sure you're ok and that you don't need anything. We'll find her and if we don't... well, lets just not go into that."

  
  


Grissom looked at the top of his desk and nodded.

  
  


At that moment else someone stepped into the office, Grissom and Catherine looked up and frowned when they saw who it was. Conrad Eckile.

  
  


"Hey Grissom," Eckile started, "how's Tara. Oh, I forgot, the brat got snatched. Pity, she was such a good-for-nothing." Eckile then turned to Catherine. "Hey Willows, I'd be careful if I were you. Who knows, when Tara babysits Lindsay next, Little-Miss Brainiac might let your daughter be kidnaped by Eddie... Oh, that is if she babysits Lindsay again."

  
  


"Shut up Eckile!" Catherine exclaimed jumping up from her seat. "This is tough enough withouy you running at the mouth with insults."

  
  


Catherine looked up at Grissom before turning to again Eckile. If looks could kill, Ecklie would be dead... twice; both Catherine and Grissom were glaring harshly at the day shift supervisor.

  
  


Eckile stood in the doorway smirking. He had never liked Tara much, likely reasons: he was jealous. Catherine's outburst had just done more to make him smirk. Yes, the semi-idiotic day shift supervisor was having another one of his 'mean days'.

  
  


Grissom stood up from his desk, and walked over to Eckile, Catherine did the same, but stayed behind Gil.

  
  


Grissom stopped walking right in front of Eckile and looked straight at him, before punching Eckile square in the jaw. Eckile stumbled backwards out of the office and into the hallway, where some of his staff members were waiting for their assignments while talking to Greg, who just happened to be there.

  
  


After Eckile stumbled out, into the hall, Grissom calmly walked to the office door, and shut it.

  
  


Seeing Eckile getting up, Greg made a tsk sound and said, "You insulted the Half-pint didn't you? Big mistake."

  
  


With that, Greg walked back to the DNA lab, a smirk on his face.

~~~~~~~~~

  
  


Catherine looked at Grissom in disbelief.

  
  


"I can't believe you did that," she said.

  
  


Grissom stayed silent. He had put the picture of him, Tara, Lucy, and Matt away and had taken out a more recent picture of himself, Tara, Catherine, Warrick, Nick, Sara, Brass, Greg, Dr. Robbins (who hadn't wanted to be in the picture, but Tara had convinced him), Mandy, and Lindsay, which he was looking at.

  
  


"Well do we you feel any better?"

  
  


"Yes." Came the response. "I don't care if Eckile reports it to the Sheriff, Eckile deserved it, and Brian knows that I don't use physical violence unprovoked."

  
  


Suddenly Grissom's cell phone rang.

  
  


"Hello," he said into the receiver.

  
  


"Hello Gil."

  
  


Grissom paused for a moment, before speaking. He knew he'd be getting a call like this sooner or later, he just hoped the person on the other end wouldn't confirm his fear.

  
  


"Hello Sam," he said coldly into the phone. "Where's Tara?"

  
  


"Who is it, Gris?" Catherine asked.

  
  


Gil, not wanting to make the kidnaper on the other end of the line wait, took a pen and, on a piece of paper, wrote 'Hurol'.

  
  


Catherine gasped.

  
  


"Well, well, well, it seems that the calm, contemplative supervisor is scared," Hurol had a sarcastic tone in his voice. "Don't worry, she's fine... for now."

  
  


"What do you mean 'for now'?" Grissom knew it was a dumb question, but it needed to be asked.

  
  


"That's for me to know, and for you to figure out. All you need to know is that she won't be dying in the next three hours... wait for another call."

  
  


Gil could hear someone or something moving around in the background.

  
  


"Will you be quiet?" Hurol said to someone on his side of the line. "You want to talk? Fine."

  
  


Hurol put the phone to someone's mouth.

  
  


"Dad?"

  
  


"Tara, are you ok? Where are you?"

  
  


"I'm fine, I don't know where I am but there are some other-" she was cut off by Hurol, who pulled the phone from her and cut off the connection, leaving Gil hanging.

  
  


"Tara? Tara!?" Grissom turned to Catherine, putting his cell down. "He cut off the connection."


End file.
